“Why Socrates, what is my fault, what did I do? You can’t drown me in the water like this”, Screamed Plato.
Socrates kept mum; he had a lot of strength both physical and mental. Plato tried hard to save himself, he punched, kicked and tried hard to set himself free but all his efforts went futile. Socrates was Plato’s mentor, and he wanted to get all of Socrates’s wisdom. The only thought that kept running in his mind was the question “What is the lesson my master is trying to teach me?”
One day Plato and Socrates were walking down the beach, they generally had such deep discussions on various things; Plato had a quest for knowledge. He knew every move of Socrates would teach him something.
“Would you walk with me into the ocean Plato?” asked Socrates
Plato agreed and they both started moving towards the sea. As they moved the water came and touched the feet of the two great philosophers of history and slowly rose up to their knees, as they moved deeper Plato had a question arising in his head just like a high tide in the sea. He felt, “What is the lesson my master is trying to teach me?” Slowly the water tried to touch their shoulders and both of them had just their heads above water.
Abruptly Socrates grabbed Plato’s head and tried pushing him down under water. Plato unable to understand what was happening started wondering why is his master doing this, “What is the lesson my master is trying to teach me?”
He tried struggling for survival, he had never thought of punching and kicking his master but he was left with no other option and thus started trying all possible things for his survival. But neither of his efforts bore fruit, after some time he ran out of the air and his body blacked out because of less or no oxygen. Socrates saw this he now knew that it was time to pull him out. Plato gained consciousness after some time and asked about the reason behind all this. He said, “I know it was intended but I want to know the reason behind it.”
Socrates replied calmly, “Plato when you desire my knowledge like you desired that breath of air; it is then that you shall have it.” Plato now understood the reason behind everything that happened over the stride on the beach.
Do you know the difference between a need, a want and a desire?
Needs fall under the somewhat basic category, something unconditionally necessary. 
Our needs can be classified as the elementary requirements like food, clothing and shelter. Survival without which seems impossible. Today education and healthcare have taken a stretched portion of our needs. The needs usually do not entail a push.
Want can be called as a sense of lack. Wants principally depend on needs, they stand ahead of needs. For example; you may want a three-piece suit but a shirt and a trouser is your need.
Desires are a bit different from wants and needs. A demand apprehends your hunger for want. We might need something and we might want it desperately but the capacity to buy it converts the wants to demands. When a want is sponsored by a consumer buying command it becomes a demand. The basic difference between wants and demands is desire.
Many of us desire things, but we want them only at an intellectual level. We wish for a wildly romantic long-lasting relationship, for strong financial backing followed by independence, fame we even would like to make a difference in others’ lives but for most of us, the desire is not as strong as Plato’s desire for that last breath of air.
We taste the fruits of success only when a large hunger is put up with the large discomfort and greater inconvenience. People love their comfort zone and are not at all ready to move out of it. This is the biggest reason behind the unsuccessful people.
Once we are ready to identify and create our needs we would be able to materialize them. Go look at a starving soul; look at someone who is struggling to calculate the cost of three cups of tea, someone who has no choice of clothes because he barely has some pieces to cover himself. This would introduce you to the real world of needs where you would not be able to see what a want is and what a desire it. This is the world of needs.
-Article by Pratishtha Shyam